It’s Liebster Award time! Lucky me, I have been nominated! When I first started blogging I kep on seeing all these posts about this strangely German sounding prize and I was left puzzled. What is this Liebster Award thing that everyone seems to be getting, I kept on wondering. A little time has passed and while I found out that this Award is not as fancy as it’s name might suggest, I’m still happy and humbled to be finally be a part of it.

For those of you who don’t know it: The Liebster Award is a very nice tools for bloggers to get in touch with each other. In the huge field of blogs out there, it can be hard to stand out and what the Liebster Award does is it gives bloggers the opportunity to connect to other writers personally and meanwhile, show some blogs that you enjoy to others.

So, before anything else, let me just say a huge thank you to Monika at How’s my life, who was so lovely to get me involved in this little game. Go ahead and check out her blog if you haven’t, she’s got some very personal reflections and travel stories to share.

Speaking of which – I think it’s my turn now to share some of those:

What got you into traveling?

It’s as cliché as it gets: Before graduating from highschool, I got really drunk with my best friend in my parents basement, we started spinning the globe on the table and promised to go wherever it stopped. To be honest, we didn’t end up going to Guangzhou, China, but traveled around the world nonetheless.

What’s your favourite travel moment to think back to?

It’s hard to chose from the countless amazing memories made. One that always puts a bright smile on my face is when I was in Byron Bay with two very close friends. We were coming from a club late at night and ran into a bunch of people on a restaurants front porch who were just playing the drums, singing, dancing and having a good time. We ended up dancing with them for what feels like all night, although probably the police arrived only half an hour later.

Why did you decide to start a travel blog?

I was working in an internship I didn’t really like at that time, but I was abroad, so I thought: Why not make better use of this experience? So I started The Giramondo because I wanted to create something that I was truly passionate about no matter what. So far, I’m happy to say that hasn’t changed.

What do you miss most from home when you travel?

Apart from my friends and family – it’s definitely got to be bread. I feel incredibly German for that, but there’s no denying: No one does bread like we do!

What’s the first thing you go out to find in a new place?

A good coffee place. As I’m not only German, but also Italian, coffee is KEY to having a good day. If I can’t find a nice place to sit in the sun and have coffee… I probably won’t stay around for too long.

What’s the book that stirs your wanderlust the most?

This isn’t a useful answer for most, because I’m pretty sure his works don’t get translated, but: If you’re a German speaker with, check out the books by Helge Timmerberg. He is a journalist / travel author who is LIVING THE LIFE. I usually have one of his books with me whenever I travel, doesn’t really matter which. All of them are amazing. Period.

What’s your biggest struggle while on the go?

I have mentioned it before, coffee is a crazy big deal for me, so if I can’t get at least one proper one in a day, I will end up having a lack of caffein migraine that you don’t want to meet me with. Also, getting hangry is a big issue for me, but let’s face it: That happens at home, too.

What’s the scariest travel experience you ever had?

Probably everything connected to how my semester abroad in Turkey went down. I don’t want to get too far into this here, if you’re interested you can read the story here.

You’ve got your passport and credit card. Which three other items do you chose?

Very basic: a book to read in, a book to write in and honestly something against headaches.

What’s the greatest benefit of traveling for you?

Apart from all the wonderful cultural and personal experiences travel provides for everyone, I mostly appreciate how traveling forces me to leave my rather small comfort zone. I’m a person who’s easily scared and overthinks basically everything, and traveling offers so many situations where you simply can’t do that. I love how that challenges me every time.

And here’s my nominations – some of them are new to blogging, others not so much. All of them are awesome, so do check out their work if you can spare a minute:

Genevieve at The Traveling Blackbird: If I didn’t love her blog so much I might’ve nominated her just to have an excuse to use that beautiful first name once.

Chris at Traveling Mitch: Who is a great writer with a blog full of passionate travel posts and not to be missed!

Nico at The Boy Who Travels: Because he quit a job he didn’t like to pursue his dreams  (and only partly because the title rings a Harry-Potter-bell in my weirdo head)

Praful and Neha at Happily Tanned: Especially great if you have plans to travel to India.

Jess at Lost Coconuts: For a fun style of writing and great aesthetics in her pictures.

Katka at Explorer of the World: Because she has the whole package of travel stories and useful tipps.

Jess at Readyjessgo.com: Because of her hilarious insights into being an American tourist.

Shruti at mewanderlost.com: For beautiful photography all along.

Have fun answering the following questions:

What do you love most about traveling?

What is a place you will never forget?

If you could travel only to one country for the rest of your life, which one would it be?

When did the travel bug bite you?

Did you ever visit a place and not like it at all?

What’s the item you always pack but know you shouldn’t?

What’s your most treasured phrase you ever learned in a foreign language while traveling?

“I have no idea where I’ll be tomorrow” (=1) versus “I have everything booked and a full itineary ready” (=10) – where do you see yourself on the scale?

What is the biggest mistake you ever made traveling?

What’s your secret souvenir obsession – something you would like to buy everywhere you visit?

I’m looking forward to all of your answers!

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The Liebster Award Guidelines

Write a blog post about your nomination and display an image of the award

• Thank the person who nominated you and link them to your blog
• Answer the 10 questions the person who nominated you has asked in their blog post
• Nominate 5 – 10 other new bloggers who you think deserve this award and come up with 10 questions of your own for them to answer
• List these rules in your blog post
• Have fun and discover new blogs all along.